This application claims priority of Taiwan patent Application No. 091204494, filed on Apr. 8, 2002.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a wood planing machine, more particularly to a wood planing machine with a wood shaving collecting mechanism in which a drive shaft is coupled to and is driven by a motor thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/102,369 now, U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,475 by the Applicants discloses a wood planing machine that includes a mounting frame, a support carriage mounted movably on the mounting frame for rotatably mounting a cutting shaft, a motor housing mounted on the carriage and having a motor disposed therein to drive rotation of the cutting shaft, a blower mounted on the support carriage and having an impeller driven by a drive shaft, a shaving collecting member disposed in the vicinity of the cutting shaft to collect wood shavings, and an air conduit interconnecting the motor housing and the shaving collecting member to introduce an air stream into the shaving collecting member. Although wood shavings can be collected upon planing, since a drive transmission mechanism, such as a pulley-and-belt mechanism, is required to transmit the rotating force of the cutting shaft to the drive shaft, the wood planing machine is bulky and complicated in construction and the transmitting effect is not satisfactory.
The object of the present invention is to provide a wood planing machine which can overcome the aforesaid problems of the prior art.
According to this invention, the wood planing machine comprises a mounting frame with upper and lower ends opposite to each other in an upright direction. A support carriage is mounted on the mounting frame and is movable between the upper and lower end in the upright direction. The support carriage has right and left sides opposite to each other in a longitudinal direction transverse to the upright direction, and front and rear sides opposite to each other in a transverse direction relative to the longitudinal and upright directions. A motor housing is mounted on the support carriage to receive a motor which has an output shaft. An air duct is disposed adjacent to the right side for passage of introduced air, and has a communicating port. A rotatable cutting shaft is mounted on the support carriage, and is driven by the output shaft to be rotatable about an axis extending in the longitudinal direction. The cutting shaft has a coupling end which extends leftwardly and outwardly of the left side. A shaving collecting member is disposed on the support carriage to define a shaving passageway for collecting wood shavings. The shaving passageway has an intake port in the vicinity of the cutting shaft, and an outlet port downstream of the intake port and adjacent to the left side. An air conduit defines a flow channel which is in fluid communication with the communicating port, which is disposed upstream of the outlet port of the shaving passageway, and which extends to permit an air stream to flow in the transverse direction. An air stream directing member is disposed on the support carriage to direct the air stream to move along a flow route which extends in the longitudinal direction and cross the shaving passageway, such that the air stream flowing along the flow route passes by the intake port to entrain wood shavings thereinto for onward movement to the outlet port. A blower casing is disposed leftwardly of the left side, and has proximate and distal walls which are spaced apart from each other in the longitudinal direction and which are respectively proximate to and distal from the left side to define an accommodation chamber. The proximate wall has an inlet port formed therethrough, communicated with, and disposed downstream of the outlet port. A tubular discharge member is disposed between the proximate and distal walls, is in fluid communication with the accommodation chamber, and extends in a direction radial to the longitudinal direction. A drive shaft extends along the axis, and has a first end which is rotatably mounted on the distal wall, and a second end which is disposed opposite to the first end and which extends through the inlet port to be coupled to and rotated with the coupling end of the cutting shaft. An impeller is received in the accommodation chamber, and is connected to and is driven by the first end of the drive shaft to rotate about the axis so as to draw the wood shavings from the shaving passageway into the accommodation chamber via the inlet port and out of the discharge member.